The Girl Next Door (1953 film)

The Girl Next Door is a 1953 American musical comedy film directed by Richard Sale and starring June Haver, Dan Dailey, and Dennis Day. It was made and released by 20th Century Fox.

Plot
A popular performer, Jeannie Laird decides to buy her first house and celebrate with a big party. The guests' enjoyment is interfered with by the happenings at the home of the next door neighbor, Bill Carter.

Carter is a comic-strip artist. He prides himself on every story he tells being true to life, including that of 10-year-old son Joey, whom he is raising alone. When a relationship blossoms between Bill and Jeannie after a shaky start, a neglected Joey ends up blabbing to Bill's bosses that the comic strip's adventures have become far more fiction than fact.

Cast

 * Dan Dailey as Bill Carter
 * June Haver as Jeannie Laird
 * Dennis Day as Reed Appleton
 * Billy Gray as Joey Carter
 * Cara Williams as Rosie Green
 * Natalie Schafer as Evelyn, the maid
 * Clinton Sundberg as Samuels, the butler
 * Hayden Rorke as Henry Fields
 * Mary Jane Saunders as Kitty

Background
This was June Haver's last film appearance. Haver had gained fame in the mid-to-late 1940s as a musical star for Fox; she starred in films like The Dolly Sisters, Irish Eyes Are Smiling, Where Do We Go from Here?, I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now, Look for the Silver Lining, and I'll Get By. Haver departed from films to join a convent in 1952, but left the convent six months later and married actor Fred MacMurray.

When released, The Girl Next Door drew mixed press reviews; it did moderately well at the box-office.